Poetry & HIV/AIDS

See also: Fiction and Nonfiction | Book Excerpts and Reviews

The AIDS Awareness Poets, Inc. (Regularly Updated)
A nonprofit organization with the aim to promote wellness in all areas (including preventing HIV infection, recognizing and avoiding domestic violence, etc.), among youth of color, especially. Members are not all poets and you do not have to be one to join if interested. All you need is the right level of energy and passion toward the idea of helping to save a generation of poor choices.
Bonus Rounds: A Blog Entry by River Huston (January 20, 2012)
"I just feel it is a privilege to not just be alive, but have found some happiness and contentment in my life. There is very little I want, need or desire; wow, lucky me."
From The Body
Poetry Month at TheBody.com: HIV/AIDS-Related Poems From Our Readers (April 2011)
From The Body
Poetry: Hope -- A Blog Entry by Sarah Sacco (April 1, 2011)
"I wrote this poem in November of 2006, as I pondered for the first time since my diagnosis the possibility of hope."
From The Body
If You Let Me Into Your Life, I Will Never Ever Leave You (February 7, 2011)
From The Body
Poetry: From The Bones of Susan -- A Blog Entry by River Huston (December 30, 2010)
"AIDS AIDS AIDS / Hey I said it / don't memorialize metaphorize hypnotize categorize or sanitize me / its hard enough living with an illusion"
From The Body
A Poem by Michael A. Kehoe (October 20, 2010)
From The Body
Poetry: H-I-Me -- A Blog Entry by Brandon Lacy Campos (October 19, 2010)
Let me be clear with all ya'll here / If you are choosing to go on a meth-fueled sex affair / My responsibility to the outcomes of your personal decisions stop right there / So happy we got all that out in the air.
From The Body
Poetry Month at TheBody.com: HIV/AIDS-Related Poems From Our Readers (April 2010)
From The Body
HIV/AIDS Poems (December 2006)
In Voices of Youth Forums, from UNICEF
Tory Dent's Poetry on Life With AIDS (January 3, 2006)
Listen to her poetry or browse through some of her poems.
From National Public Radio
"I Still" (July 2004)
A poem by Gene Valentine about lost love and HIV disclosure.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Innovative Strategies -- Prevention Through the Arts (January 2004)
A look at several unique programs that use film, music, radio and other artistic methods to educate people about the risks of HIV infection.
In Transitions, from Advocates for Youth
"Blame": A Narrative Poem (September/October 2003)
Dennis Rhodes on leaving the corporate world behind after his HIV diagnosis.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
On Parade (May 2003)
A poem about GLBT Pride parades, by James Pergola.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Exuberance (January/February 2003)
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Florida: AIDS Message Delivered in Poetry (December 9, 2002)
In CDC HIV/Hepatitis/STD/TB Prevention News Update, from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Mistakes (November 2002)
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
My Brothers (The Gonzaga Group) (October 2002)
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Our Mexican Flower, Our Beloved; Doña Santa (Summer 2002)
In Women Alive Newsletter, from Women Alive
An Interview With Tory Dent (December 7, 2001)
Tory is an HIV-positive published poet and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
From Library of Congress
I Own All of Me (December 2001)
By David Kearney.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
"I vow with all beings . . ." (December 2001/January 2002)
Poetry by members of AIDS Project Los Angeles writers workshop.
In Positive Living, from AIDS Project Los Angeles
"Three Weeks Later" (November 2001)
By Philip Regman.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Handicapable (October 2001)
By Antoinette-Marie Williams.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Poems By Body Positive Readers (August 2001)
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Poems By Body Positive Readers (June 2001)
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Thrush (April 2001)
By Gerry Gomez Pearlberg.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
A Pompeii of the Arm (April 2001)
For Shepperd Wahnon by Dean Kostos.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
To a Lover Who is HIV-Positive (April 2001)
By Alfred Corn.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Arguments of Silence (April 2001)
By Rachel Hadas.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Prescriptions (April 2001)
By Walter Holland.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Spiritus Pizza and Other Poems (April 2001)
By Dennis Rhodes.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
"Unimaginable Grief, Unexpected Joy": AIDS in Poetry (April 2001)
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Rehearsals for Retirement (Spring 2001)
By Phil Ochs.
In Women Alive Newsletter, from Women Alive
Neighbor (November 2000)
By Stephen Jerrom.
In Positive Living, from AIDS Project Los Angeles
That Night (November 2000)
By Gary Beauregard.
In Positive Living, from AIDS Project Los Angeles
But Here I Am Permitted To Be with You (August 2000)
By Sidney Morris.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
A Poetry of Crisis, a Poetry of Witness (April 2000)
HIV and the poetry of the late twentieth century.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Ron Drummond (April 2000)
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
A Forced Life (April 2000)
A personal story of one poet's art and his virus.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
The Poetry of HIV -- A Sampler (April 2000)
Poems by Phoenix (Richard Anderson), Maggie Hart, Roger Chauvette, Nelson F. Jewell, and Denis Siri.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Luxe, Calme et Volupte (December 1999)
By Don Scotti.
In Positive Living, from AIDS Project Los Angeles
Jeffrey (December 1999)
By Terry Catalano.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
To Dan, My Psychotherapist, Who Said 'Forward Is Always Better' (September 1999)
By Dennis Rhodes.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
The Drag Performance (September 1999)
By Walter Holland.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Blistering Summer (August 1999)
Poetry by Brandon Ross Abernathy.
In Survival News, from AIDS Survival Project
If There Is A Place (August 1999)
By Whitney Williams.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
"Freeing Your Spirit," by Nelson F. Jewell; "Untitled," by Denis Siri (August 1999)
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Gingerbread Dreams (May 1999)
By Robert Paczkowski.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Cathy (April 1999)
Poetry by Brandon Ross Abernathy.
In Survival News, from AIDS Survival Project
Eleventh Birthday with AIDS (March 1999)
Poetry by Brandon Ross Abernathy.
In Survival News, from AIDS Survival Project
Never Be the Same (January 1999)
Poetry by Michael R. Tyre.
In Survival News, from AIDS Survival Project
Voices in My Head (January 1999)
Poetry by Richard K. Anderson.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
AZT/3TC (January 1999)
Poetry by Craig Brock.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Last Christmas? (December 1998)
Poetry by Brandon Ross Abernathy.
In Survival News, from AIDS Survival Project
I Am (November 1998)
Poetry by Robert Fortuna.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Positively Poetry -- Four Poems (July 1998)
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
In a Time When (Spring 1998)
Poetry by Tirdad T. Zangenett.
In Women Alive Newsletter, from Women Alive
Positively Poetry (December 1997)
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Positively Poetry (August 1997)
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Lines Written In St. Patrick's Cathedral (June 1997)
Poetry by Dennis Rhodes.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Teen Talk (Summer 1997)
In Women Alive Newsletter, from Women Alive
The Music Within Us (April 1997)
Poems by David Matias and Will Heekin.
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Kids Talk: A poem by a boy who lost his parents to AIDS (Winter 1996)
In Women Alive Newsletter, from Women Alive
Four Poets (December 1996)
In Body Positive, from Body Positive
Kid Talk (Autumn 1995)
Teen poetry from a camp for children with AIDS.
In Women Alive Newsletter, from Women Alive
Excerpts from The Death Cycle Machine (1995)
Poems by Charlotte Mayerson on the death of her son, journalist Robert Henry Mayerson.
In The Death Cycle Machine: Poems by Charlotte Mayerson, from Crown Publishers, Inc.
AIDS Poetry Project
At The Body.
AIDS Workbook 2: New Poems by Young People About AIDS
In AIDS Workbook 2, from AIDS Poetry Project